Just a friendly reply to the review by @upstateholly: I count 6 songs debuting 2009 or later ... that's 21 other songs all coming from pre-2009, and actually they all come from pre-2000 ... doesn't get much more "classic" than that these days, my phriend ...

Agreed this show pales a bit in comparison to Great Woods and Hartford, but the band was still HOT and the playing is pretty inspired to my ears ... lots of fun on stage ... that first set was a great listen ...

Interesting reading some of the initial reviews of those who attended. I just finished listening to the show on Live Phish and thought it was pretty raging. Felt like a lot of energy to me with some songs having a bit of a faster tempo than normal (especially Twist). The early stage banter helped set a great mood I thought. The second half of the second set seemed to be a bit shaky at times, but they were swinging for the fences for the most part so can be forgiven.

All in all I found it to be a pretty massive, down and dirty sounding show. I haven't listened to everything from this tour yet, but this show has a lot of character. Whether or not it's the type of character you prefer is a personal preference.

Seems like they are getting their mojo back in time for a fun West Coast run. Have fun to those who are going!

I dont understand the hate for this show at all. This was a fantastic show at a fantastic venue. Trey was on fire tonight. There werent any 20 minute deep space jams but they were tight and the energy was there. Definitely worth a listen. One of the best shows of the tour so far.

do you like songs under 10 min ? if you don't, then you don't like phish. most songs are not going to be jammed. I would love a sick 20 min tube, but that's not going to happen every time you go to a show. You know what else is not going to happen every show, getting a mango, ha ha ha, land lady, timber, destiny, MFMF, and a god damn perfect Curtis Loew. that was my second mango since 1998. i missed it so much.
by the way that tube from Syracuse, was bad ass at only 4 min. because that's all it took. Winterqueen was amazing beautiful as was waste. Martian monster brought the dark funk. rocky top brought the love. so many great moments. Lakeview is going to be a special place for phish and its phans.

I'm pretty much still a noob I guess, I've been listening to this band for like a year and half now and this is only my 6th show but it was my first show going solo. After hitting Hartford the night before with two first timers, I made the trek up to Syracuse on my lonesome Sunday morning.

I got to the venue around 5:30 and made my way around Shakedown and what not. Didn't smell any of the toxic fumes I'd been warned about but thought the area was really nice. On the way in to the venue around 7ish there was a security guy on megaphone trying to coral people his way through the venue with "Got a blank space where a line can be....don't have cliff bar or green tea though." This was hilarious and set the right vibe for the night.

Made buddies with a few people on the lawn, some who were there for their first show. Lots of chompers and teenagers though. Enough about that shit though let's get to the show.

Landlady opener? Fuck yeah. High fives were given to strangers all around. Incredibly white attempts at salsa dancing were observed and eventually attempted by yours truly. No success. Great opener.
Blaze on in the two spot is fun. Kept the place moving and Trey was sounding very on point. Good sign for the rest of the set.
Ha Ha Ha and Friends. The Fishman segment of the show. Lots of hilarity. I really like Friends, even if sounds like a song The Clash left on the cutting room floor.
Tube. Who doesn't love Tube, even if it's short? Always great to get down to Tube.
Destiny Unbound. Oh shit. I don't deserve this.
MFMF oh hell yeah. Fishman just pounding away. Great little version.
Mango Song was on point, no flubs that I saw. Good time.
Timber Timber Timber was awesome.
Curtis Loew?! Tonight is bustout city! I remember listening to the Alpine show last summer where every song in the first set was a tour debut and wishing I could be at a show like that one day. Curtis Loew was when I realized I was now the closest I'd probably ever get to that.
STFTFP-The security guy outside vibed this song into existence tonight. Hell yeah.
Mound-Love this tune. Very greatful I got to see it.
Winterqueen. Not a fan of the lyrics whatsoever but Trey made the jam very enjoyable.
Bold as Love. After what seemed like a Frankenstein tease they shifted to Bold as Love. Great closer choice for what was a fire of a first set.

Set two
Drowned. Wow we're heavy on the covers tonight but I'll take it. Seemed like they were about to take these into the darkest of the dark before Trey slipped into his comfortable little Twist riff that he loves so much. This one again seemed like it had a lot of potential in the jam but Trey brought it back around to the chorus before segueing into Waste. It's the noob in me for sure but I LOVE Waste. I'll never complain about that one, although weird placement tonight. Piper>Simple was great, lots of exploring by everybody in the Simple jam. Breath and Burning is ok so far, they need to just take it to the next level though like they did with NMINML on NYE. Rocky Top is like Waste. I won't ever complain and I'll dance my ass off every time. Martian Monster was awesome live. I don't know how well it translates to tape but the rotation jam was a lot of fun. Very Drums/Space-y. Golgi was ridiculously fun and Frankenstein, albeit technical difficulties with the keytar, was a great closer. Page is a godsend.

Zero encore. Lawn was grooving. Everybody loves to do the "ah-ah-AHHHH" chant at the end there. Great show.

Really enjoyed myself and met some cool people on the lawn. Can't wait for fall tour announcement. I love this band!

I was at Deer Creek, all 3 SPACs, Great Woods, Hartford and Syracuse and this was my favorite of them all. They were in sync from the beginning, the venue was gorgeous. Highlights: Drowned, Simple, Curtis Loew and Rocky Top in the same show, keytar and Frankenstein fakeout in 1st set, Bold As Love, best Winterqueen evah, sick Timber.

I loved everything about this show!!! Great new spectacular venue, I flew from Colorado back to Syracuse( I grew up in Utica & went to college in Plattsburgh) it was like a huge high school and college reunion! Haters gonna hate but they sounded fantastic, even the trippy drums/space like Martian monster was cool seeing Gordo rip Trey's axe, security & surprisingly the cops were super chill too. I like the mix up in song selection, totally unpredictable show, I danced my ass off! I irritates me that a show is defined by a huge 20+ min jam by some people and not the overall quality of the show. I would've preferred a Reba encore over Zero, but overall excellent show for sure, see y'all at Chula Vista & Dick's!!

Disclaimer: This isn't really a fantastic show review, but it's an honest one since I was there.

I had a lot of fun at this show, the sunset was absolutely beautiful over Lake Onondaga, the crowd was nice. To be honest though, I only gave this show a 3 out of 5 and I feel like I'm being forgiving. There was almost NO musical exploration in either set. There were 17 songs in the first, with a combined total of maybe 5 minutes of jamming. The second set Drowned was interesting, until it got ripcorded into Twist, Waste, and a seemingly pointless version of Piper that didn't go anywhere.

Simple is always fun, but again I thought they'd actually TAKE it somewhere and explore, but nope. They went into Breath and Burning. I actually enjoy this new tune, but it only lasted 5 minutes until Rocky Top happened. Martian Monster was actually cool and featured some rotation jamming. Still didn't even break the 10 minute mark - felt like the band just had A.D.D. and was bored.

Just speaking for myself here but when I go to Phish I like to hear a mix of powerful songs and improvisation. This show was mostly songs and hardly any improv. Honestly really disappointing considering what happened at Mansfield and Hartford, but hey, can't win 'em all.

I heart gamehenge, but I also heart Blaze On. This was a great show to see. Fantastic mix of good old shit and great new shit! I will say I like fast tempo My Friend better than sluggish tempo My Friend, but that's my only beef, and I'm over it. How can you beat watching a beautiful sunset over the lake while The Heads of the Phamily play soothing and energizing melodies to revive and enlighten The Soul! Blaze On, Keytar On! See you in Mexico!

Very enjoyable show on a Sunday. Partially because I liked the venue so much. It was really cool! Right on the water so you're literally watching the sun set over the horizon as the band plays their first set. And it was a beautiful night. Also, the stage is relatively small, so the band members are closer together and it seems to make for a more intimate setting. I got some great photos, which doesn't always happen.

Cuse was not quite the rager that Hartford was the night before, but still great. I was with a large pham at the Hartford show and we all had a great time. But it was just me and my two best Phish buddies who took Monday off and drove up to Cuse. Last show of the tour for me, Fishman's hometown, last show of the east coast leg, brand new amphitheater and my tenth show overall - I was feeling great and expectations were high.

Consensus among my friend and me was that we were a little more impressed with the first set than the second. The Landlady opener was really sweet, very happy I got to see Trey and Mike bust out the dance moves. Blaze On was good, then the band jumped into the Fishman medley and it seemed like they were having a lot of fun up there. My Friend, My Friend absolutely rocked, definitely a S1 highlight, and there was a big cheer when they went into the Mango Song. For me, the best part of the first set was the Timber > Timber > Timber medley. That was awesome. Most of the crowd looked around confused at the Halloween narration coming over the PA, since Phish hasn't played this one since Vegas. But everyone cheered when Trey's Timber riff came in. I was stoked because this is one of my favorite songs and I've never seen it live. I'm surprised it took the band this long to do this medley - it was really cool. I'm also a huge fan of Curtis Loew, so that was a treat. A lot of covers at this show. Stealing Time was groovy, Mound is a sweet song. They threw a jam on Winterqueen in an attempt to legitimize the song. A lot of piss breaks during this one but the jam was pretty good. Trey was on. Then Page says they're going to play a song from one of their favorite 'composers'. Bold As Love drops, CK5 coordinated the light colors with the song lyrics and Trey absolutely shredded the solo as the daylight disappeared.

With such an enjoyable, energetic first set, expectations were high going into the second. Opening with Drowned was awesome, they really rock that song and it was a good setting with the water right behind the band. It seems like they're playing Twist a lot, which is fine, it's a fun song. This particular Twist was really mellow and low volume but not in a bad way - I was hanging on to every note Trey played. I had a feeling they would play Waste, cool cool what's next. Piper. Not a typical Piper though. Trey went straight to the lyrics with the band playing low. Usually we expect a long, kinda psychedelic jam to build up to the verse but not this time. They didn't really blow up Piper like you hope they would, but they did go into a sweet Simple. That was a real good Simple - the crowd was into it. Breath and Burning, yeah they're really pushing that one. It's ok...what's next. Frickin' Rocky Top! I think Trey wanted this one; he walked over to each of his band mates and then started playing the intro riff by himself. Martian Monster always makes for a cool jam. They let it hang for just a moment and went right into Golgi which rocked. Again, the 'sea' setting was nice. Page had gotten on a little keytar jam earlier in the show but I think they had some technical difficulties or they just didn't gel on it. So I had a feeling they'd come back to it on some Frankenstein. Page quickly took his seat at his normal keyboard though. But the song absolutely rocked, as you would expect. Character Zero encore seems like a bit of a cop-out. There's no way they're going to end their east coast tour with just a Zero, right? Wrong. It was a rockin' Zero, but still...give us a little more.

Overall good show - I hope Phish plays there again. I love the venue!

This show isn't a big jam show. This show was essentially a 2016 version of a 1991 show. Just super high energy Phish and they're all just having a fantastic time playing. Not every show has to be bookmarked by a massive jam to be good. If that's all you like them for, then go back and listen to shows where they did that.

I'll take a fun, high energy show any day. It really just goes to show the versatility that the band has. Especially in the song selection on this night. I'd highly recommend this show to anyone who loves the band.

Just a great-solid show from top to bottom. I've seen a smattering of shows since 1995 and I'm not sure I've ever seen the band communicate better while on stage.

The first set is just fantastic. Nothing goes long, but they get right down to business in every song attacking each jam with a mastery and precision that is simply beautiful to witness. Mango might have had a few minor rhythm hiccups, but nothing that derailed it and hey...it's a tough song that is not played all that often. Specific highlights for me were the tight Tube, Destiny Unbound (Trey lays into a nice thick swampy groove out of the chorus), Timber/Timber/Timber, phenomenal solos in STFTFP and Winterqueen and a killer Bold as Love. Also...of course...all the stage banter and The Fishman Trilogy during songs 3-5.

The second set kept up the energy and fun. Drowned was a perfect example of what these guys can do in a relatively short amount of time...just so much texture. Together Drowned and Twist made for a pretty great 20 minutes of music. Waste was a great cool off song at that point of the show and I'm so happy to hear Trey nail the end solo. It's beautiful when executed that well and for me makes or breaks any live version of the song. Piper through Breath and Burning was just fun. Nothing that will stick with me for a long long time, but I couldn't imagine a better way to spend another 20 minutes of my time here on earth.

After B&B (which I enjoyed a lot more than imagined I would) I feel like they played 4 set closers that just kept carrying the energy 'til the very end. It did appear Mike had some trouble hearing the rest of the band during the start of Rocky Top as he seemed to jump into the vocals early. No matter, they recovered nicely and rocked it out. Martian Monster was a show highlight that got pretty damn tribal towards the end of the Marimba Lumina solo...plus more band fun with instrument switch. They executed Golgi with the energy it deserves. I'm so glad (and relieved) to hear it played with expert precision again.

At the end of Golgi, Page made another move for the Keytar (after a failed attempt to end set 1). While he did, Trey and Mike got on their backs and started pedaling they're air bikes to buy some time. More fun, so much damn fun on this night. Unfortunately this was not a fun night for the Keytar. It was by far the biggest disappointment that was quickly forgotten during Page's fantastic solo. It looked (and sounded) like he gave this rendition little extra intensity to make up for the malfunction.

One note: at about :40 of the LP recording you hear a strange synth sound...that comes from the Keytar tech, behind Fishman still trying to get it to work. I had a great view in the pit Page side and when that note is played he gave a funny, somewhat exasperated, look to Trey like " great, now they get it to work". Trey just smiled back and they went on to kill the song. Great moment.

Character Zero encore was my 4th or 5th in my last 5 shows...so no surprise for me. There are other tunes I'd love to see in the encore slot, but once it kicks in you can't deny just how damn much it rocks. I think it's the best example of the influence covering Quadrophenia had on them. Arena rock in it's purest form.

All in all just a great, fun show. To my ears and for my taste, Phish is playing as well (and quite possibly better) than I've ever seen them play during my limited time as a fan. They're 4 focused, expert musicians that have just about mastered their instruments. The West Coast run should be something pretty special!

I was at the show last night, and I'll start with the venue itself...one of the better outdoor ampitheaters you'll find. Lots of space, gorgeous views, phenomenal sound from the lawn, and great security. On to the show....first set on paper was cool, but there was definitely a lack of execution. Trey was pretty sloppy. Being that the boys only play a limited number of shows a year, and probably don't practice a ton, rare bust outs are often likely to have flubs. It's unfortunate, but that's our reality. I'm also finding that when the band does find a great groove, the rip cord is often pulled too soon. There seems to be a lack of patience in many shows.

Second set was like hearing a different band. They were very tight, and I only remember Trey have one small rough patch. Drowned thru simple was awesome, but again, there was a lack of patience that would normally see many of these tunes extended. Very well played set and tons of fun.

Last thought...I think that the band has so many songs in the repertoire that song selection and flow often suffers. It's like being at a restaurant that has a huge menu and it's hard to choose what to order. When the band doesn't play many of their songs enough, the chances of mistakes are greater and I feel like we're really hearing that more and more. Also, certain songs in my opinion really need a certain tempo to deliver the required punch if you will, and the slower tempo that the band plays some of these tunes in nowadays kinda kills the song in my opinion.

Anyway, it was an average first set and some great playing in the second set. Hopefully, west coast tour steps it up a notch!

YOU CAN PROBABLY MISS A SUNDAY SHOW AND BE OKAY

2014 is long gone, and so it seems are the days of the best shows falling on a Sunday. That's not to say that Sunday shows haven't been good, but with the exception of alpine last year, the heaters seem to fall more on Fridays and Saturday. This show continues that trend, offering a promising and fun first set, but ultimately falling into juke box phish second set. The song selection was standard in set 2, and overall this show doesn't have a ton of relisten value. It sounded fun to be there, but after GW and Hartford this show fell fairly flat.

If you want to hear a highlight, the winterqueen was very good. Hopefully things will sync up at the gorge!

On July 10th, 2016 I drove to Syracuse to see Phish play in a (relatively) brand-spanking new amphitheatre built right on the water (which body of water might be in Syracuse is beyond both my knowledge and my interest in bothering to google about). Four of us had driven down together and as we got to the venue we were directed to a new, gravel parking strip. We parallel parked and joined a small throng of people waiting for one of the many shuttle busses to take us to the actual venue.

Goodness knows why a concert venue built out in the middle of nowhere couldn’t have included an adjacent parking lot like every other shed in the nation is also well beyond my knowledge, and it is so on the cusp of my interest I’m this close to googling it.

While waiting for the shuttle we ran into a few of our American friends and soon enough the six or eight of us just made it into the next shuttle, squeezing in last, putting us near the front of the bus.

The last to get on the shuttle was a woman, maybe in her mid-thirties, and a little boy around eight years old wearing ear-protecting headphones. She was talking to a parking guy and getting exasperated.

“I was told we would have a special bus to ride on,” she explained, obviously for the umpteenth time. “He doesn’t do well in crowds.”

“I’m sorry,” the guy said, and it looked like he meant it. “All I can say is we’ll have it in place for the next concert.”

Reluctantly she got on the bus, surveyed the crowd and sat the kid up on a wheel-well right next to us at the front.

I was chatting with my friend Todd when the bus started to move. Behind me I heard the most horrible screech you could imagine. It sounded like the shriek of a wounded pterodactyl, or more accurately, an angry one.

Turning around, I could see the kid lunging at his mother and trying his best to head-butt her in the face. She was clearly well-trained in defence, bobbing and weaving like Rocky Balboa to this eight year-old Apollo Creed. He was autistic – full-spectrum – and this was his time to completely lose it.

The kid screamed, rocked, and struck out violently at random, surprising intervals while his mother alternated between hugging him, restraining him, consoling him, and lurching backwards out of the reach of his vicious assaults. All the while I stood three feet away trying desperately to have a normal conversation with a friend I hadn’t seen in six months, trying to avoid adding unwanted attention to the mother’s obvious stressful situation.

The bus ride seemed to take forever, and in reality I’m sure it did take much longer than one would ever expect it to take to get from a parking lot to a venue. As we neared our destination the mother broke down to tears, pleading with her child, “Please stop…this morning you were so excited to come here today…Phish is you favourite band in the world…please, please stop.”

It was really super-heavy. I got off the bus astounded that I had seen only ten minutes of that lady’s lifelong struggle, and the boy’s too of course. I stood on the sidelines of the lineup going in to the show, bought a dollar-beer or two and took a moment to settle my aura. Meanwhile a half-dozen or so friends found us and we eventually entered the venue en masse.

M’lady and I had pavilion tickets but just as we were making our way to the seated section we came upon a gaggle of Ottawa friends standing on the lawn so we joined them for the first set. I met a guy in the gaggle who was following the band on a motorcycle – doing the whole tour – but he hadn’t been inside a show until this one…am I remembering that right?

Anyway, the band started the show with a rarity from their past, The Landlady, and it set the tone for the rest of the set, which included Mango Song, My Friend, My Friend, and Bold As Love. There was even some first-set keytar playing by Page.

For the second set we found our seats (or thereabouts) in the pavilion and had a great time for the rest of the show. The shuttle back to the car confirmed that it was indeed a ridiculously long journey to the lot, even without the existential tragedy of life playing out before your very eyes the whole time. But really, the shuttle inconvenience proved to be the only downside to the new venue.

Could be worse I guess, they could have made us all walk the whole way. Although I suppose that might have worked out better for at least a couple of people.

toddmanout.com

This show was mostly "New Phish" (songs they've written since 2009) and covers. I being a long time Phish fan would have really liked to hear more "Classic Phish" (songs that were written before 2009) or as the other review calls it - Jukebox Phish. I just can't get into the slow tempo and rolling lyrics of most of the new Phish songs. Phish for me has always been about the dancing for sure which is much better and a higher pace. The sound quality was good and the boys were talking with the crowd on multiple occasions which is really not typical. Fishman is from Syracuse so there were a few shout outs to his home town which was really cool. But even when they did play classic Phish the tempo was slower than I would have liked. Overall I had a great time, the atmosphere was really nice and the boys sounded awesome but I really wish there had been more energy from both them and the crowd as well as more classic Phish songs.